Five Ways to Bring Red Carpets Back to Life

Cosmopolitan magazine has a point. If you’ve already seen everything a celeb is wearing and heard everything that’s on her mind, what good are red carpets?

Red carpet events used to be the big reveal, especially at country music events and awards shows. It was the first time you saw what Carrie Underwood was wearing, heard what Blake Shelton had to say, picked up on Luke Bryan‘s sense of humor and noticed when Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman were holding hands.

But social media has kind of killed that anticipation.

Before the recent Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala in New York City, the magazine explains, “Karlie Kloss was taking kissy selfies with her Champagne-clutching gal pal Taylor Swift,” “Kardashian-turned-credible fashion model Kendall Jenner had been encased in a pale taupe mermaid-cut Topshop tube gown, and “Stella McCartney boasted a shot of Cara Delevingne’s see-through mesh underwear, embroidered with her name.” It was all out there, thanks to Twitter and Instagram and the like.

The Cosmo story
talks about how celebrities these days are owning their images, and thus their red-carpet interviews are less meaningful. Social networks allow stars to stay relevant in a 24/7 news cycle. Meaning that if you haven’t heard from your favorite star in a few hours, rest assured she will tweet a picture of her cat, her lunch or her cat’s lunch any minute now.

I get that, and I’m also very aware of the fact that we can never go back. The socials aren’t a passing fad like Beanie Babies and Hit Clips. They are here to stay. So I’d like to offer a few ideas to bring the red carpet experience back to life. Both for the stars themselves and for the fans:

1. If you are a celeb, tease your fans with a little something. But reveal the rest on the red carpet. Show us a photo of your dress on the hanger, but wait until the event to show us your dress on your body.

2. The same goes for the conversation. We would love for you to tweet what’s on your mind, but save a couple of topics for the carpet when “u don’t have 2 speak in ur” abbreviated Twitter voice. Hashtag full sentences.

3. If you’re a fan, stay off Twitter. And that doesn’t mean just avoiding spoiler-alert tweets. Literally, just turn off your phone, bury it under the couch cushions if you have to and watch the red carpet live. If you cannot bring yourself to do that, at least try to unfollow some stars so that you’ll have a little shock value.

4. Also, don’t feel the need to live-tweet the experience from your living room. By killing yourself over every 140-character comment about this one’s cleavage or that one’s side ponytail, you’re missing what could be the best parts.

5. If you’re a reporter, don’t ask celebs about the very things they’ve just posted. Think outside the social box.